It's defence, defence, defence for the Ottawa Senators

DALLAS — If coach Guy Boucher writes a message on the board Friday night at the American Airlines Center, it should be pretty simple: Defence, defence, defence.

As Americans gathered at their homes to celebrate Thanksgiving Day with traditional turkey and football, the Ottawa Senators were on the ice here just after lunch working on playing better in their own zone after a frustrating 6-4 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night.

Make no mistake, the Senators did a great job coming back from a 4-1 deficit in the third period before dropping the decision in regulation, but nobody was happy that they dug themselves that hole in the first place, and that’s why the focus was on play away from the puck.

“We know we’ve got to work on our defensive side of the game,” Boucher said Thursday. “We worked on things that are within our control. We feel that the five goals that were scored (Wednesday) could have been prevented.

“That’s the bad side, and the fact that they scored five, but the good side is they could have been prevented. We put in a lot of time on the offence, and the enthusiasm, and the fans recognize it’s fun to watch our team play, but if you want to win games in the NHL, you’ve got to play well defensively.”

The Senators are the NHL’s second-highest scoring team with 79 goals in 22 games. However, they’ve also allowed a league-high 94 goals, and nobody else is really close in that department. Vancouver has allowed 84 goals, but they’ve played two more games.

That’s why the Senators know they have to clean up their act.

The Senators knew there would be nights like the one they had against the Wild, but they feel they’ve happened way too often lately, and if this team is going to improve, then it has to be done right. Is defence a commitment or a learning curve?

“A little bit of both, but mostly commitment,” said defenceman Dylan DeMelo. “Everywhere we’ve played as players, we’ve been in crucial moments defensively, right? Maybe there’s a little bit of a learning curve because it’s at a different level.

“But, in the end, you’ve got to take pride in it. The best defensive teams are the ones that take pride in it, and it’s not just one guy, it’s a five-man unit on the ice that’s committed to blocking shots, working hard that little extra defensively instead of going on the offence.

“For us, it’s a commitment factor, an attention to detail factor and a little bit of that is learning curve, but I think it’s just buying into the way we need to play to win.”

The fact the Senators showed a lot character by coming back in the game against the Wild was little consolation after a loss.

“You look back at it and you think, ‘Well, what do you come in and talk about today?,’ ” said winger Bobby Ryan. “Do you come in and say, ‘Well, you guys were resilient, you worked and you didn’t give up when it was 4-1 going into the third,’ so you build on that?

“Or do we look at it like, ‘Why are we in this position and why are we down 4-1 and chasing the game?’ A lot of people would make a lot of money if they had the answer, but I think with the position we’re in and trying to grow something, you’ve got to look at why we’re behind in games way too often.”

As this road trip continues against the Stars, the situation has to improve or the Senators will have no room to falter offensively.

“Right now, the defensive side is hard because of our lack of experience, and that I can’t change, but there’s a commitment part that we can definitely improve faster than the experience part,” said Boucher. “That’s what we’re trying to put the clamp on right now.

“The players are in it. They want it and they recognize we could have done better defensively (Wednesday) for sure. We didn’t fold and we made it 4-4 and that last goal by (Eric Staal) hurt because it’s easily preventable, and if we get to overtime you get a point and you get something positive regardless of what happens.”

The Senators have provided no shortage of entertainment because there haven’t been any concerns about a lack of goal scoring when they step on the ice.

Now, Boucher just wants the players to take another step in the right direction so the Senators can have success consistently.

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